Council house entitlement!!!

BobProperty

MrsE wrote: »

....This forum seems to be getting nastier & nastier.
Many of us have been savaged on MSE, .....

I think some people need to look around the internet a bit more and not read just this site and the Mogadon Users Knitting Circle Forum.
Being "savaged" on here would, IMHO, be at the "dead sheep" level.

d123

MrsE wrote: »

If they were banned or suspended they would probably just rejoin under another name.
But there do seem to be a lot of regulars who form their little gangs & bully people & no one or nothing seems to curtail them.
There also seems to be people starting nasty threads simply to cause trouble & saying nasty things. Tbennett100 (or whatever) spring to mind, saying horrible things & getting away with it.

I moderate on a forum belonging to a national magazine, I can tell you there are ways to enforce a suspension or ban like IP restriction, amongst others.

There are ways to do it, just take a change of attitude by MSE.

ally67_2

if my sons moved out at the moment we would no longer be able to be rehoused we have been waiting 3 long years if they move out we would end up back in a hostel in a 2 bed flat like i have said before i would be very very happy with 3 bed house .... but choice lettings wont let us ..... even thou this is falling down its been condemed if the cracks get worse they might move us i have my life back living here living in a hostel is the pits never again

in_debt_again_but_dealing_with_it

I'm saddened reading this thread. I thought we were human and compasionate, I really will have to remove the rose tinted glasses. Perhaps those of us who are unable to buy our own home (anyone with a salary below £30,000 by todays housing market) should simply curl up and die. Shamefully I rent, I was born in a council house, my parents worked all their lives, my dh and I have worked all our lives, despite dh having a heart attack at 39 and a heart condition -WE STILL WORK, we pay tax and N.I!!! We are not scroungers nor are we the scurge of society. We simply CAN'T AFFORD to buy our own home. WE PAY RENT our accomodation is not free! The private rent rates are set by who ??? ESTATE AGENTS! The very people who are largely responsible for the unnatural rise in house prices over the last 8 years - who is making money here? Not difficult to see is it!

SmellyOldSock

I never left home until I was 28yrs old! I paid my way, helped around the house, and was expected to respect my parents house and privacy, in return I had a roof over my head, regular meals (although cooking was shared) and given my space.

I've realised that the council will never rehouse us. Mainly because there is no houses.

So I've taken it upon myself and my hubbie to rent privately, it means me working weekends to pay the bills, but at least I'm not beholden to anyone.

We've been fortunate as in our future LL wants a family in the house and prepared to give us a 3 year lease.

Currently we're in rented accommodation under the '106 agreement' which means the local council decides who lives in there. Have you looked into that?

best wishes and good luck, I understand how hard it is.
Charlotte

sascasjor

I'm all for people expressing their own opinions but not when it means disrespecting others for no good reason. TBeckett100 and co are quite possibly trying to wind people up and are most likely enjoying the backlash. The rest of us should just agree to ignore the idiots amongst us who think they can force their opinions on others. Perhaps this is just their idea of fun!

RoxieW

I dont think posters should be savaged for asking a simple question - but the term 'entitled' I think has angered a few.

Why should the OP be entitled to a bigger home to make part of the year more convenient? Life aint perfect. I have a '2 bed and a box room' house. We have two boys and would like another baby. Is someone going to find me a bigger house at a low cost to make life more comfortable? Of course not - we have to make do with what we've got or take on a far bigger mortgage to move. That's life! God help us if we have twins eh!
The OP has a subsidised roof over her and her childs head - council houses are in short supply so I'd say she should count her blessings already. Many of us on not much higher wages are struggling with massive mortgages or rents as thats just the way things are nowadays.
PS it would be fantastic if my hubby could go self employed like the OP's. It would make things much easier childcare wise, lower those costs and enable me to work the job i actually trained for. Unfortunately we cant afford that luxury and need his full time wage. So I cant do the job i trained for as arranging the childcare is too difficult and expensive.

blue_monkey_2

OK, the OP has taken a lot of slating - some of you know my situation, I am waiting for council housing too. We can't afford to rent either.

For those of you that don't know and just assume people 'can't be bothered to rent privately' and 'expect everything subsidised', letting agents expect you to 'bring home' 3 times the rent else you don't even get to look at the property for rent - that is before starting on the clean credit rating or 6 months up front malarky and no DSS. I have asked the question before, what are people supposed to do if their circumstances unexpectedly change? where are they supposed to live if the local authority does not help them?

It depends where you live I guess, the rents around here are £900 upwards - so my husband needs to being home £2700 in his wage packet before any letting agent will entertain us - if we had that we would most certainly choose where we want to live, not go where ever is available at that time with no chance of moving later unless someone wants an exchange.

RoxieW, while you might think it is fab to be 'self employed' it isn't! No advantages of sick pay, holiday pay etc... plus no 'guaranteed income' if no-one wants your service you don't earn any money. My friends OH is self employed and works 14 hours a day 7 days a week and my friend also has to go out to work so they can pay the bills/mortgage. If he is ill or go on holiday they lose his income. I am sure there are positives, but for the main breadwinner then it is very hard work. 4 years into my business and I only just started seeing a return on my business. And then we was told our long term let was being sold and so I've had to close and put everything in storage so no business. I cannot work from home if I rent somewhere privately as the LL will not get insurance for you if you do. So it is catch 22.

Sometimes things happen, life is not perfect for everyone, I am not a youngster, I am 36, my husband is 38 - my landlord is my mum!! She is evicting us so she can sell the house, the council won't house us until we have an eviction date and then it'll be somewhere when the bailiffs are knocking on the door. I also have a child with mental health issues. I cannot go 'out' to work because of the nature of my husbands job s this is why I started my own business, we do not have people we can call upon to look after the children while waiting for him to get in from work. Oh, and we had children thining the house would not be sold until 2025 at LEAST!!

However, sometimes circumstances change. For me, for my mother, for the man down the street you think is coping financially but a quick conversation makes you realise that others are in the same boat as you are, a lot of people. You can never know what is around the corner and you can never judge others in that manner as some of you are on this board. If social housing was not needed then there would not be any. But life is not that perfect.

maybe we can blame the council or making the rents low, we would not get any benefit towards the rent, if it was higher we would do the same because we cannot rent private - indeed we already appraoched a local landownder who lets property to people without a clean credit score but he has nothing either.

Not everyone who is living in a council house is there because they have no job, are druggies or alcoholics, they are there because it costs too much for 'average' wage earners in 2008 to be able to afford somewhere to rent on the private sector or buy. Not everyone has wealthy parents that can give their kids deposits, loans or just give money out of the kindness of their hearts. Nor can they stump up the equity in their own homes to use towards their kids 'income' on paper to get their huge mortgage. Nor have they been able to save their kids pots of money. Average wage earners work to 'get by' and to pay the bills without resorting to going onto benefits. The minute you have children you can get more or less anything anyway (another thread I read yesterday proves this) housing included, so why should us 'low income wage earners' even bother when we can get things handed to us on a plate (even money for school uniforms beleive it or not!!). The reason we work is to get some self respect and in the hope that our situations might be able to change and one day buy something or rent somewhere we want to live - rather than be told you can live there whether ou like it or not. Hardly something you would do out of choice, surely?? Sure, some do, but others need a hand while they are getting up of the floor after they have fallen down - an people never know when they are going to fall down, do they?

Just who is going to be 'the most' deserving for Social Housing? Those who have worked and paid tax all their lives, or those that don;t but are more entitled? Those are the ones you should be directing your comments at.

Anyway, Eli, call your council and ask them, get details on the housing register and choice based lettings if they have them, also get on the transfer list, I beleive there is a Nationa Register. Someone might want to downsize and this is the first place they will look. Some of the council flats around here have a dining room, if this an option for you can you stick a sofa bed in there for him? Or get one of the fold up/take along blow up beds you can put up and down for when he stays.

Speaking from around here there are so many people looking for 3 bed houses, even with medical priority we have not been offered anything yet and only 5 3 bed houses have come up in the last 4 months - all of which have gone to people who have a greater need than us (so not begrudging them) but go on the transfer list and also put cards up in newsagents windows, you never know who's eye it will catch.

blue_monkey_2

Oh just to PS. I would never have a baby to get a bigger place, that is madness but if you have the same sex baby they'll expect them sleep in the same room so really that is not an option unless you are crazy or prepapred to keep on going until you get at least one of each!!

RoxieW

blue_monkey - please don't patronise me. I'm fully aware that being self-employed is hard work. I don't think it would be a 'fab' easy ride. However, my hubby is an architect and there is a market for him to go self employed. Several of his colleagues have done so successfully. But from their experience we know that there is a drop in income for a while, before you can build up a reasonable client base and bring home a decent wage. We do not have this option as we are committed to a mortgage and would not have this option even if renting as we couldn't afford the big drop in income.
The reasons that you have given are exactly the reasons that we cannot afford to do it.
I said it would be fantastic for him to be self employed from a childcare point of view ie he can take a break to pick the kids from school, then make up for it in the evenings. It would really solve a lot of childcare problems for us.

The OP's partner chooses to be self employed and bring home a low wage. He could get a full time job and bring in more money. But he has the luxury of pursuing this avenue as they have low rent, council housing.

I didn't say that they don't deserve the council housing. But perhaps they should be happy with what they have. As I explained, we'd love a bigger house - who wouldn't! But we'd have to work damn hard for it, work damn hard to save the money for the deposit, the fees etc, then sell our house and find a suitable bigger one - We cant just decide that we should be 'entitled' to it and have it given to us for nothing. What a wonderful world if that were the case for everyone!

For the record - neither me nor my husband have wealthy parents. Very far from it in fact. We put ourselves through university and saved our own deposit. We have two children. We have to make sacrifices financially and career wise.

The OP and her husband are both capable of work and are both working. Why cant her husband get a 'normal' stable job? Why cant they up their hours and their income like other people have to? What is stopping them from being able to afford to rent a bigger place and give the stepson his own room! Yes, rents are high, house prices are high - but what makes them different to the rest of us?

A family member of mine are in a council house and pay £85 a week rent for a 3 bedroom home. I wish the council would subsidise my mortgage on a 3 bed home so it only cost £85 a week?

And I'm not 'bashing' people in council accommodation. If you're a single mum and you cant work at the minute due to childcare costs, or elderly and in poverty, or unable to work due to disability then yes, the council should help practically and financially to house this people. But a two adult family both able to and working, with 1 child to support should be able to pay the going rates and free up that house/flat for someone else who is in dire need.